Hat-stiffening machine.



PATENTE'D MAY 2; 1905.

J. MARSHALL.

HAT STIFFENING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED 0OT.21,1904.

3 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

INVENTO 37 0L WITH/588% No. 788,785. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

J. MARSHALL. HAT STIFFENING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED 0G T.21,1904.

8 SHEETS-433:1 2.

WITNESSES I Mil M702 No. 788,785. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905. J. MARSHALL.

HAT STIFFENING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED 0O'I'.21,1904.

s SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Wi'trzwses: Q ju/erztar'x 5 I Q6 filaw/JZQ Own/2:7

N 1TB A STATES Patented May 2, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

HAT-STIFFENING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 780,785, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed October 21,1904. Serial No. 229,404.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES MARSHALL, aciti- Zen of the United States, residing at Fall River, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hat-stiffening Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of hatstiffening machines which by an automatic movement start and stop a flow of stiffening compound which is discharged upon the hatbody by means of rollers between which the hat-body passes and to which the stiffening compound is led in pipes.

In the present state of the art the stiffening material is placed in an open reservoir above the machine and by its specific gravity when cocks or slide-valves in the pipes are opened or closed it is discharged upon or cut off from the rollers.

The objections to the present process lie in the fact that the stiffening compound being composed of alcohol and shellac evaporates its alcohol easily when exposed to the air and the stiffening compound becomes too dense to flow quickly or regularly upon the opening of the pipe-valves and in some cases clogs them entirely, and the hat-bodies are unevenly stiffened.

The object of this invention is to overcome these difficulties by the improved construction hereinafter described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of the improved machine; Fig. 2. an end view of the same parts. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional elevation; Fig. 1, a detail plan view.

As the invention relates only to the manner of agitating and supplying the stiffening compound to the rollers, only such parts of the machine are shown as relate to those features.

The particular style of machine chosen for illustration is a hat-brim-stiffening machine.

In all the figures like numerals relate to like parts.

1 is the table and frame of a hat-brim-stiffening machine of the ordinary variety, its'upper reservoir and supply-pipes being omitted to give place to those peculiar to this invention.

2 is a tight-closed tank arranged below the frame. It is supported by legs 3 from the floor and supports the legs at of the machine. The tank may be made of metal or wood, and the whole construction is bolted together to form a general frame, to which the various parts of this improvement are attached.

The tank is provided with an agitator within it, as shown by the dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2. The agitator is constructed with an upright shaft 5. Journaled, preferably, centrally in the tank, it is provided at its lower extremity with blades 6 of suitable shape to keep the stiffening compound well agitated, thereby keeping it at a uniform state of fluidity, while the closed tank prevents the evaporation of the alcohol. The shaft 5 passes through a stufling-box 7 in the top of the tank. Its upper end is supported at the side of the table by a journal 8. A bevel-gear 9 is attached to the shaft at a suitable height to mesh with a corresponding bevel-gear 10, attached to a right-angle shaft 11, supported by boxes 12 along the edge of the table. This shaft terminates in a pulley 13,which is driven by the same belt 14 as operates the machine, or it may be driven in any other convenient manner.

At one end of the tank (see Fig. 1) is placed a rotary pump 15, having a positive inside movement for measuring out a certain quantity of stiffening compound at each revolution of the pinup-shaft 16. This shaft has sliding upon it a jaw-clutch 17 and also carries a loose pulley 18, to the hub of which a similar clutch 19 is fastened. The clutch and pulley are secured to the shaft in the usual manner. The sliding clutch-section is provided with the usual recess, in which is fitted the operating-fork 20, which is attached to one end of the lever 21. The pump is supported by a bracket 22, which also supports an arm 23, to which the lever is pivoted at 24, and is then continued until it meets and passes through a bracket 25, attached to the end of the machine at 26. The bracket is provided with a lateral slot 27, allowing free lateral play to the lever, and also with a vertical slot 28, in which an upright shifting bar 29 is fitted. This bar is provided with an oblique slot 30, through which the end of the lever 21 passes.

An upward or downward motion of this bar gives the lever 21 a corresponding lateral movement, which operates the fork at its other end, and thereby shifts the clutch in and out of contact with the loose pulley which starts or stops the pump.

The upper end of the shifting bar is connected rigidly to an upright extension-bar 31, adapted to the shape of the machine and which terminates at 32 in a yoke pivoted to one end of the lever 33. This lever is supported above the table by a rigid post 34, in which it is pivoted. At a point 35 between the post and the end of the lever a vertical slide 36 is pivoted, and at the other end of the lever beyond the post a vertical slide 37 is pivoted. Both these slides pass down through the table and rest upon inclined circular cams formed upon the face of the gear-wheel 38, which may be of any shape or shapes, to allow the slides to rise and fall at the proper points, so that the gearwheel 38 at each revolution acts to positively start and stop the pump, and thereby controls the flow of the stiffening compound.

The gear 38 is driven by the pulley 39, which is the prime mover of the machine, by means of shaft 40, operating in the manner usual to this class of machines and which is not detailed here, as it forms no part of this invention. The slides 36 and 37 are also old in so far as they are operated by the gear 38 with its attendant cams; but instead of being used to open and close pipe-valves, as heretofore, they are now employed to operate the lever 33, which is arranged to stop and start the pump, which measures out a predetermined quantity of stiffening compound to the rollers in the positive manner peculiar to this invention. This quantity is regulated as follows: The main shaft 40 of the machine, on which is situated the driving-pulley 39, is continued out to carry another pulley, 4E1, which is connected by belt &2 to the pulley 18 on the pump-shaft 16. The relative diameter of these two pulleys will givea relative number of revolutions of the pump to each revolution of the gear and cam-Wheel 38, which operates to raise or depress the levers which stop or start the flow of the stiffening compound.

The pump is connected at its suction-inlet 43 by a pipe 14 with the interior of the tank and is provided at its delivery-outlet 45 with a pipe 16, which is led, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, through the mechanism, so as to deliver its contents to the usual distributing-pipe 17, arranged adjacent to the cone'roller 18. The pipe also has a waste extension 49, which by opening the cook permits a circulation of the stiffening material from the suction-outlet through the pump and back into the tank by way of the waste vent-pipe 51, which also receives the waste drippings from the corerollers.

52 is a supply-pipe for filling the tank with stiffening compound from a mixing-room in an upper story and is part of a pipe system for similarly supplying a line of machines.

The machine is started or stopped in the usual manner by the handle 53, attached to the rod 54, which operates the lever 55 to raise the bar 56, and thereby the slides which cause the power-pulley to start the machine, all of which is old and not claimed here.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine for stiffening hats, the combination with the usual frame and rolls for distributing the stiffening compound and the mechanism for actuating the same, of a tank for holding said compound arranged below the machine, an agitator constructed within said tank arranged to keep the compound in constant motion whereby its uniform density and fluidity are maintained, connecting-pipes between said tank and the rolls, and means for maintaining a flow of said stiffening material through said pipes, whereby it is applied to the hats by the rolls, substantially as described and shown.

2. In a machine for stiffening hats, the combination with the usual frame and rolls for distributing the stiffening compound and the mechanism for actuating the same, of a positive pump movement, arranged to lift a predetermined quantity of the stiffening compound from a tank below the machine, and to deliver it to the distributing pipes and rolls arranged at a higher level, substantially as described and shown.

3. In a machine for stiffening hats of the character described, the combination with a tank holding the stiffening compound arranged below the machine, and a pump for elevating the same to the distributing-rolls, of means actuated by the mechanism operating said machine, which cause the pump to positively deliver a predetermined quantity of stiffening compound to the distributing-rolls, substantially as described and shown.

4;. In a machine for stiffening hats of the character described, the combination with a tank holding stiffening compound arranged below the machine, and a pump arranged to deliver said compound from the tank to the distributing-rolls, of a lever actuated by the same mechanism as starts or stops said rolls, said lever being connected to a mechanism acting upon a clutch movement to start or stop said pump at predetermined times, and an agitator, arranged within the tank to keep said compound in a fluid condition of uniform density, substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

.IAMES MARSHALL.

Witnesses:

THOMAS D. TORNEY, BRONSON S. BURR. 

